Toshiba Corp. (6502) President Atsutoshi Nishida did not rule out the possibility of selling DVD recorders using the Blu-ray Disc format when addressing shareholders at the firm's general meeting here Wednesday.

"It makes no sense to decide not to enter the Blu-Ray market simply because we lost the DVD-format war. We cannot change the fact that we lost, but we would like to keep our options open," he said.

Toshiba pushed for global adoption of its HD-DVD format, but failed to gain sufficient support from major U.S. movie studios. This prompted the firm to pull out of its HD-DVD operations in spring 2008, declaring at that time that it would not handle Blu-ray products.

But Nishida's latest remark appears to indicate that Toshiba is considering reversing that decision in light of the significant growth in the market for these products.

Now the new CEO can actually announce BD support without looking like he's reversing the old CEO (who is staying as Chairman) and make him lose face. Which is something very important for Japanese executives.

Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.-George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four

Now the new CEO can actually announce BD support without looking like he's reversing the old CEO (who is staying as Chairman) and make him lose face. Which is something very important for Japanese executives.

TOKYO -- Facing the prospect of a record loss and the possible need for additional capital to shore up a battered balance sheet, Toshiba Corp. said its chief executive will step down in June and be succeeded by a veteran of the company's nuclear-power business.

Norio Sasaki, the 59-year-old head of Toshiba's infrastructure systems group, will become the next president and CEO in June, pending shareholder approval. The current CEO, Atsutoshi Nishida, 65, will become the company's chairman as part of the management change. Tadashi Okamura, the current chairman, will become an adviser to the board.

With Blu-ray players selling for as little as $130.00 now I'm not sure what advantage they think they can bring to the market, but I'm game to find out.

I don't think it's so much what they can bring to the market, but what the market can bring to them. Others have said that perhaps they're losing sales on TVs that they might otherwise get, where customers would rather buy a BD player *and* a TV from the same maker. I mean, personally I could care less - I have a Panny BD player and a Sony TV, brand loyalty doesn't matter to me, but some people are big on that. Even if those potential customers do buy their TVs, they could still get a good amount of BD player sales by covering both bases. It seems like a market ripe for them to get into, and it would certainly make sense for them.

The average sales price has begun to come down. In the first week of June 2008, the average sales price of Blu-ray disc recorders was between 110,000 -- 120,000 JPY. By the third week of October, it dropped to between 100,000 -- 110,000 JPY.

That's $1,049 to $1,154 in USD

Not too much of a stretch to understand why Toshiba would be interested in this market. And the UK is opening up as a market for these SAT HD DVR BD recorders also.

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Nishida said that BD recorders, in particular, appear to be a viable option. They are quite successful in Japan.

I wonder if this means they have hit a stumbling block with their plans to move every thing to flash and other related media? No point in propping up BD if your plan is to stab it in the back as soon as possible, unless you think you can do more damage from the inside than the outside.

So what happened to the magical upconverting tech that was supposed to make regular dvds almost as good as Blu-rays?

It's Toshiba. Over promising and under delivering. I'm trying to think of an electronics company who fail so bad at making a decent product than these guys. Samsung, once a laughing stock is light years ahead of Toshiba now.

Kinda reminiscent of the promises made concerning the interactivity for BR (remember "Limited Interactivity" vs "Superior Interactivity"?) At least HDi worked all the time, as opposed to the Java crap BR is saddled with (BDA: "It will work.... we promise... with the next FW upgrade.")

Quote:

I'm trying to think of an electronics company who fail so bad at making a decent product than these guys. Samsung, once a laughing stock is light years ahead of Toshiba now.

The company you refer to in the second sentence fulfills the first. In some non-bargain markets, Samsung is still a laughing stock.

Peace... Vader

"Ya see, we plan ahead. That way we don't do anything right now. Earl explained it to me." - Valentine McKee

One sub to rumble them all. One sub to shake them. One sub to humble them all. And in the darkness break them....

It's Toshiba. Over promising and under delivering. I'm trying to think of an electronics company who fail so bad at making a decent product than these guys. Samsung, once a laughing stock is light years ahead of Toshiba now.

I disagree. If they can produce a BR player that performs as well as most of their HD DVD players I would take a look. That's not to say they won't come up against the same BD Java issues the other CE's have. But they supported their players fantastically.

So what happened to the magical upconverting tech that was supposed to make regular dvds almost as good as Blu-rays?

When the Circuit City in my area went out of business they had a load of these players and could not sell them even at $80.00. Toshiba used to produce innovative products but as written above, they seem to have lost their way and now the Samsung brand seems to be way ahead of Toshiba.

It's Toshiba. Over promising and under delivering. I'm trying to think of an electronics company who fail so bad at making a decent product than these guys. Samsung, once a laughing stock is light years ahead of Toshiba now.

Please go and praise Samsung in the "Dual Format Players" section and see what kind of response you get.

For the record, I still don't see Toshiba releasing a standalone Blu-Ray (only) player in the US market this year. If they ever release one, I see them taking LG's route and releasing a combo of Blu-Ray and streaming.